


Continuity

by Hagar



Series: Project: Aftermath [7]
Category: Power Rangers Zeo
Genre: Family, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Holidays, POV Minor Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-30
Updated: 2005-12-30
Packaged: 2017-10-02 16:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/pseuds/Hagar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Ranger Christmas, forty or fifty years into the future. Complete with evil aliens, family and homemade christmass cookies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Continuity

**Author's Note:**

> Loving gratitude to beta reader Roie.

“Note to self”, grumbled Jonathan as he pulled into his grandparents’ driveway. “Never, ever celebrate not being attacked on a holiday eve, ‘cause we’ll get our butts kicked on the holiday itself”. He stared darkly into the night. They’d really roughed it out this time – the megazord took its worst beating yet, and Lenna barely managed to bring it back online in time. It was a close shave, and on Christmas day, too… Jonathan tightened his coat about his as he swung out of the car, and not because of the cold. Some days being a Ranger was a pain.

As he stepped on the porch he noticed that the living room lights were the only ones his grandparents had left, meaning that at least one of them was already asleep. They left only the biometric lock, though, and it let him in without a problem. “Granddad? Grandma?” he called softly.

“In here” said his grandfather, his voice carrying easily in the quiet house.

Jonathan followed his voice into the living room. His granddad was sitting on the sofa, with Ben curled up beside him, asleep. He raised his eyes to Johnny’s. “Come and sit down”, he told him, “and take off this coat”

He was in for a telling, Jonathan knew. He came to pick Ben up hours ago, but had to bail because his morpher went off. Now he was inexcusably late, and it would be hell explaining it to his parents. Assuming, of course, he would survive his granddad’s interrogation.

“How’re you doing at school”

Jonathan blinked away his surprise. This wasn’t one of the questions he expected, and his granddad asked it like it wasn’t a question, either. “Okay, I guess”, he said.

“Really”, muttered his granddad. “I understand your grades did a drop a while ago”

“They picked up since”

“Naturally”. He looked at Jonathan sideways. “You know you can talk to me, right, Johnny? About what’s been going on?”

“Sure, granddad”

The old man snorted. “No, you don’t. You don’t know your history at all”

“Hey!” protested Jonathan. “My history grades were never that low”

“I’m not talking about school. I’m talking about _your_ history. _Our_ history”

“What?”

“Your grandmother fell asleep waiting for you”, said his granddad, seemingly out of nowhere, “but she left me this to give to you. She wore it during our senior year, back when we were in high school”

Jonathan picked the silver pendant from his grandfather’s fingers. “A pentagram?” he asked skeptically.

“A five-pointed star”, agreed his granddad. “What can you tell me about it?”

“Well, it’s usually considered to be a magical symbol. White magic when it’s positioned with a ray pointing upwards, and black magic when it’s positioned with a ray pointing downwards. It’s also considered a symbol of humanity, because you can locate a person spreading their limbs on its rays”

“It was also the symbol of the red Zeo Ranger, some fourty-five years ago”, said his granddad, shooting a quick, sharp look at the bewildered Jonathan. “What does that tell you?”

“Well…”

His granddad snorted again. “I hope your blue Ranger’s got any smarts, ‘cause you obviously don’t”

Jonathan knew he looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but he couldn’t help it. Did his granddad just say… _red Zeo Ranger, fourty-five years ago_. How old were his grandparents? They got together in high school, didn’t they? _Your grandmother wore this during our senior year_.

“You and grandma… you were Rangers?”

“Yes, we were” said his grandfather, slowly and proudly.

“Wow”

His grandfather smiled. “That’s what I thought, when your communicator went off, earlier”, he agreed. “I called your parents when I saw on the news that you’re going to be stuck for a while. Made your excuses”

Jonathan’s smile was relieved. “Thanks, granddad”

“Anytime, Johnny. All Rangers look after each other, and us reds especially so”. He stared thoughtfully at the fire. “Whatever happened to the archives?” he wondered. “We used to keep pretty good records: who served on which team and when, that kind of stuff. How come you don’t know any of it?”

“Cialla knows her own planet’s history. I don’t think she knows much about Earth’s”

“Cialla Zanassi? The visiting professor from the Nebula Exchange?”

“That’s the one”

“She’s your team’s mentor?”

“Yeah. Long story”

His granddad laughed softly at that. “Aren’t they all”, he agreed. “Tell you want. Let put this little tike - ” he nudged the sleeping Ben “ – upstairs with his grandma, and then I’ll make us some tea and we can exchange stories. How about that, huh?”

“You bet, granddad”

* * *

The had appeared on her doorstep with a can of homemade cookies and ready smiles, and Cialla didn’t know what to make of them. Jonathan’s grandparents have been sitting in her living room for a few hours, now, and she still didn’t understand why - they claimed they came because they didn’t want her to be lonely on a holiday, but that didn’t make much sense to her. She was ambivalent about their presence: on the one hand, they were good conversation and she really was grateful for the company – but on the other hand, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the nice, elderly couple had an ulterior motive that had very little to do with Christmas cookies.

“Some things never change”, agreed Thomas wisely as she related another classroom tale; she had a ready listener in this retired teacher who never lost his love for the profession. “This is what Kat and I were like as students; this is what my students were like, when I first began teaching; so it figures Jonathan and his lot would be just the same, too”

“Thank you for watching out for them”, said Katherine softly. “You must be a great teacher. Jonathan speaks very highly of you”

Thomas grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like: “He should”.

“Thank you for coming” she told them earnestly as she walked them to the door a while later. “Sometime I forget to notice how lonely I am, this far from home”

“You’re welcome”, said Thomas. “We figured as much. You can call us if ever you need anything, or just company…”

“Or cookies”, interjected Kat.

“Or cookies”, agreed Thomas. “Call us whenever, okay?”

She didn’t notice the data stick until later, when she picked up the dishes. It was lying on the coffee table. She picked it up, thinking that she should call the Olivers, but then she noticed the stylized lightning bolt engraved on it and nearly dropped it in surprise. She inserted it into the reader, and watched the first thirty minutes in silence, her hand pressed against her mouth, before pausing the recording and calling the Olivers’.

Tommy answered her call almost immediately. His face smiled mischievously at her from the screen. “So you found your copy of the archives, I see”, he greeted her.

“How did you know?” she demanded. “Jonathan should’ve known better than to tell you!”

“He didn’t; I figured it out when his communicator went off earlier. How come you’re using our old ringtone?”

“Got it from an old documentary”, she admitted.

“I knew we shouldn’t have agreed to those”

She shook her head, torn between anger and amusement at this old human, so much like herself. “Now I know where Jonathan got his overdeveloped sense of drama from”

“And don’t you forget it”

“Oh, believe me. I won’t”


End file.
